Just a Game
by ShizukuChan
Summary: Not only Danny and Flack like playing Basketball... DL naturally, as if I could write anything else...
1. Basketball

**A/N: This is a variation of the "Basketball" oneshot I wrote a while ago, so if you read that one, you might find a few familiar passages in this one... thanks to Kkristabell for the beta :)**

**please read, enjoy and review ;)**

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Just like every second Thursday evening, Danny and Flack met at the gym down the street of the lab to play some basketball, to talk, to let some steam off. It was ten o'clock, as usual the gym was empty by now, enough privacy for the two CSIs to talk about anything they wanted to talk about. Women, for example.

Flack knew Danny was really into Lindsay, now was his time to question him about it, finally he could find out what exactly was going on between them.

"So, you like Lindsay?"

"What? Yeah, she's cute, but you know what kind of women I usually hook up with, and you know for what reason…" Danny passed the ball over to Flack, it was his turn to start. Flack gave him a mischievous grin, "Oh yea, I know."

"I haven't seen you with any other women since the flirting between you and her started though" Flack stated while he tried to break through Danny's defense.

"Okay, you're right. I got a crush on her. I think the more time we spend together the worse it gets. Maybe I'm already in love…"

"I didn't think you could be this romantic. Does that mean you didn't have any meaningless sex in the last two months?"

This unexpected turn of the conversation made Danny stop moving for a moment - Flack's chance to make his first two points this evening.

"2-0! I have a feeling I'm finally gonna win tonight!"

"Never gonna happen! You just caught me by surprise on that one, won't work again. And to answer your question: No, I've been living like a monk these past few months. Because of Lindsay. Plus, I think I've finally grown old enough to understand that there can be more between a man and a woman than just 'meaningless sex'."

Flack passed him the ball, "Yeah, right. Admit it grandpa, the girls just aren't interested in you anymore!" He gave him an innocent smile.

Too bad for him though that Danny used this moment of inattentiveness to take some steps back and throw a long distance shot, three points for Danny!

Danny's little cheering parade for himself stopped abruptly when he heard a cough coming from the doors – it was Lindsay, in a tracksuit! He was too stunned to say anything, so Flack was the first one to welcome their new training partner.

"Hey Lindsay, what's up?"

"Hey Flack…" She was surprised by the presence of the boys, too.

"Montana… you training here? Since when?" Danny had found his voice again.

"Since last week. I never thought I'd meet you guys here. Do you play regularly?"

"Yup, expect to meet us every second Thursday, we like this gym." Flack explained.

"Um, okay, well… have fun then, I'm gonna go over there and start warming up."

"Alright, see ya."

Flack and Danny exchanged a short surprised look, but then decided to continue their game.

"Okay, enough of that kiddie party, let's get serious!"

"As you wish!"

Now the game really got going. They were running after each other, moving fast, stealing the ball from each other, sweating and breathing heavily.

After a few more points for each of them, Flack, who was just on his way to score another two points, slipped on what looked like an M&M some kid must have spilled there.

"Ouch!" He fell and lost the ball. Danny ran after it to get it, but stopped playing when he saw that Flack couldn't stand up again.

"Messer, I think I sprained my ankle."

"Wait, I'll help you up." Lindsay came over to help Danny bring Flack over to the benches.

"Dammit, I really had a chance to win this game!"

"Keep dreamin', bro. No-one beats the M-Star!"

Lindsay couldn't suppress a giggle, "M-Star? Who's that supposed to be?"

"Don't make fun of me, Montana. When it comes to sports, I'm dead serious!" Danny said with a smirk.

"Don, if you can't keep playing, should I finish this for you? I'd love to experience the 'M-Star' in action." Another giggle escaped Lindsay's mouth.

"You play basketball?" Flack was surprised by this offer, but he saw his chance to help his best friend to finally get closer to his admired one, in a completely innocent way.

"Uh, sure, why not. I really think I should get some ice now before it starts to swell." With those words Flack got up and limped his way out of the gym, "Have fun you two, and let me know by how much I won tomorrow morning."


	2. Let's Play

**A/N: Thanks for all the reviews - wow, I've never gotten so many reactions this fast, makes me really happy :)  
Again, thanks to Kkristabell for all the help!**

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Now it was only Danny and Lindsay. Danny wasn't quite sure what to say. Lindsay felt the level of awkwardness rising, so she decided to finally let their game begin. 

"What's the score?" She picked up the ball and started dribbling.

"7-7, it was Flack's turn, so you can start now… we usually play until one of us hits 20."

"I only need 13 points? That's gonna be a short game."

"You think? Then show me what you got…"

Only a second after Danny said this, Lindsay took off and scored her first two points. Startled by her fast movement and reaction he stood there in awe, but then remembered that her win would also be a win for Flack, and he couldn't let that happen, not after his series of 19 wins in a row.

"Where'd you learn that?"

"What?" Lindsay threw the ball over to Danny.

"That, I mean, playing basketball like that…"

"I played a little bit at high school. We even had our own team, but since there weren't many other girl teams to compete with we only played for fun. So, you wanna chat or play ball?"

Danny was good at long distance shots, but he also enjoyed trying to break through Lindsay's defense, which was surprisingly difficult considering Lindsay's height. This time he was really glad that this sport involved a lot of contact, it forced him to be close to Lindsay, exactly where he wanted to be, and he didn't have to fear to be rejected as this was part of the game.

It was a tough game. After each score for one of them, the other always scored as well, so that when they reached 40 points each, they decided to declare it a tie and abort the match, as they were both completely out of breath and sweating as if they were running a marathon in the desert. They sat down next to each other at the benches and Danny drank half of the water in his bottle. Seeing that Lindsay had already emptied hers but was still looking thirsty, he offered her the rest of his water. She took his bottle and drank without even swiping off Danny's spit, which didn't go unnoticed. Exhausted from the match Lindsay leaned against Danny, handing him back his empty bottle.

"You're really good," she said.

"You're not that bad either."

"Flack's gonna be disappointed when he hears that he didn't win."

"You know, we could continue the match tomorrow, if you want…"

Lindsay sighed and got up.

"It's late, I should get going." She pointed at the clock at the opposite wall.

"Yeah, me too."

Lindsay was alone in the women's locker room, as Danny and her were the last ones in the gym. She felt comfortable having all the space and privacy she needed to change, and was, once again, really happy about the contract the NYPD had with this gym, which allowed the police officers to use it after its official opening times.

She took off her clothes and headed to the showers with her towel, when she heard the door being opened.

"DANNY!!!"

She quickly covered her most precious parts with her hands and arms, but not quick enough to not be seen by the ever observing eyes of Danny Messer.

He stood in the doorframe, only wearing a towel around his waist.

"The showers in the men's locker room aren't working, I thought maybe I could use yours…"


	3. Showers

„I... I… You couldn't have knocked before you came in?!" Lindsay was shocked, she couldn't believe how bold Danny was behaving.

"I did, but you didn't answer so I thought I should better come in and make sure you didn't faint or anything." He shrugged. It seemed to be absolutely normal for him to be naked in a room with his co-worker, even though his mind went back to the scene he had seen at his entry, and he was glad she hadn't reacted to his knocking.

Lindsay realized she probably hadn't heard him because she had been lost in thoughts… actually about exactly this, an almost naked Danny, sweat glistening from his perfectly trained body, wanting to be with her.

"You know that these are community showers, right?" She was still sceptical, he just seemed to be too comfortable and confident in this situation to be meaning what she hoped he was meaning.

"Yeah, we do have them over there, too, you know."

" I thought so… are you saying, you want to take a shower _with_ me?"

"If you want me to." He smirked at her. "But I might as well wait till you're finished, and then take my shower."

"That sounds like a better plan. Wait here, I'll be done in a few minutes."

Danny sat down on the bench in front of Lindsay's locker while she disappeared behind another row of lockers.

When he heard the water being turned on, he carefully stood up and looked around the corner, hoping to catch another glance at the beauty that had greeted him at his entry a couple of moments ago. His view was blocked by the milk glass that sorrounded the showers though.

"Dammit!" _We don't have that in our locker room_.

"What was that?" Lindsay asked from behind the glass.

"Uh, nothing… I just… remembered I forgot… to call my grandma this evening to tell her I love her."

_Nice try, Messer. I know exactly what that was about_, Lindsay thought smiling to herself as she took some shower gel.

Through the milk glass Danny could still see the shade of Lindsay, so he silently watched her washing off the sweat he had caused, not all of it during their game.

When she was finished he hurried back to his place and tried to look busy with counting the butterflies printed on the wallpaper.

"You done, Montana?" Danny asked as he heard Lindsay coming.

"Yeh, it's all yours now," she replied friendly, now standing next to him, wrapped in her peach towel which was way too long for Danny's taste. Her bare leg brushed against his when she passed him to get the clothes lying on the bench. This unintended touch triggered something in the both of them, making them realize that this could be the moment they had been waiting for, the moment they could confess their feelings for each other. Danny swiftly stood up, leaving Lindsay no other choice than to lean against the locker behind her.

"Lindsay…" Danny wasn't sure how to put it. He slowly moved closer, looking deep into her eyes. Lindsay blushed as his chest pushed against her hands, which she had initially held up in defense, but now let wander down Danny's stomach, one of the things she had been wanting to do ever since she had fallen for him.

From her reaction, her gentle touch, he concluded that she already knew what he wanted to say, and that she was feeling the same about him. He leaned down and, holding her chin up, placed a soft kiss on her lips. Then he went on to her neck while leading his hand over her shoulders to her back. His other hand slid up her thigh, underneath her towel, causing her to shiver because of both, the sudden cold below her waist and the knowledge of where Danny's hand was going to end up.

Her hands had already worked their way down to the lower part of his back and were menacingly near his towel, but all of a sudden a thought crossed her mind. Lindsay remembered his boldness from when he had entered the room, and that hadn't even apologized for his behaviour. If she played along now, she would never get herself to pay back the humiliation she had felt. She wanted to give Danny what he deserved: a moment of total embarrassment and exposure, like the one she had experienced. She knew that removing his towel wouldn't do, since that probably was what he was aiming for right now anyways, so she decided to keep him in suspense a little longer.

"Danny, we can't do this. Not here, not now," she said pulling him away and taking a few steps to the side.

"What? I thought you wanted…"

"It's too early. I need to know a man better before I can do _such_ things with him. Besides, this really isn't the perfect place for our first time, don't you think?"

A bit surprised, Danny nodded. The first time a woman resisted his charm, a woman rejected him - him, Danny Messer! - had come. Then again, he wasn't interested in her body, not only in her body, so he thought it would probably be for the better if they spent more time together outside work before taking such an important step. At least she didn't say no to him, she just wanted to wait. He figured he could live with that, but in order to appear all calm and okay with her decision, he definitely needed a cold shower immediately.

"Alright, I think… I'll have my shower now," he said and hurried around the lockers.

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**A/N: Sorry it took so long to upload this chapter, hope you enjoyed it... I know, you'd rather had something M-rated, but if you're nice and review this, I might write a version of this chap that deserves to be rated M at least ;)**


	4. Revenge

As soon as Danny was out of sight Lindsay started to get dressed, already cursing herself for stopping what could have become the best night since she had arrived in New York, and all the time thinking about risking a glance around the corner, maybe catching a more complete impression of her favorite CSI. Again, it took all of her willpower to keep herself from doing so.

Once Lindsay was fully dressed and ready to go, she decided it would be easier to keep herself under control if she didn't see Danny walking around in a towel all the time, thus she left the locker room before he was finished with his shower.

Exiting the room she met a member of the cleaning staff, an elderly woman of Latin-American descent, who was about to start her work in the women's locker room. Already taking a breath to tell her that a man was showering in there, it struck her that this could be the chance for revenge. Maybe Danny wouldn't mind Lindsay seeing him in all his splendor, but a complete stranger appearing out of the blue might be different, that should teach him his little lesson. And the older lady would get to see something nice she wouldn't forget for a while.

The decent and well-bred girl she was, Lindsay stayed outside to wait for Danny's reaction, and soon enough she heard it. Loud Italian cursing was followed immediately by Spanish praising. As she didn't know too much of either of these languages, all Lindsay knew was that both were mentioning Christ, and both in different ways. She couldn't wait for Danny to come out and see her standing there, smiling from cheek to cheek.

"Learnt your lesson?" She asked when he finally stumbled his way out of the women's room.

"You're evil, Montana, you know that?"

"Sure, but don't you feel good for making an elder citizen very happy tonight?"

Danny wanted to change the topic, erase what just happened from his mind as fast as possible.

"So, are you up for a date then, now that we're even?"

He was again only dressed in his towel, Lindsay tried to concentrate and refrain from jumping Danny right here in the hallway. His eyes were too blue to not drown in them, so she stuck her view to his lovely little belly button.

"Maybe one day, when you're dressed and know how to ask a woman out like a gentleman, I might be willing to say yes."

"Alright, I can do that. I'll get dressed right away, but you sure you want me as a gentleman?"

She managed a nod and looked away, breathing out heavily as Danny finally left for the men's locker room. It was a real piece of work to look innocent and uninterested in him when he was so deliciously close. But this wasn't like she wanted the relationship between them to develop, she didn't want to start it off with sex and then see how it goes. She had already tried that with other guys, it never worked out well. She wanted it to work this time, she really wanted a deep and lasting relationship with Danny.

"Ready to go?" Danny came back from changing, but the clothes he wore now didn't change much about his effect on Lindsay. She was still struggling with her inner voices who told her to give in and walk home with him, skip the dating part and just have fun for the night. She won this time, but she wasn't sure for how long she could stand her ground against these wicked orders her body passed on to her brain.

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**A/N: Thanks to everyone who keeps reading this story! I'm sorry this chapter is kinda short - originally it was written as the ending of chapter 3, but then chapter 3 was longer than the first 2 chapters combined, so I decided to split it... hope you liked it anyways, the next one's gonna be longer, I promise ;)**


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